Always there
by home to molly
Summary: Quinn realises that she has feelings for Rachel, and enlists Santana and Brittany to help her get the girl. Rachel  however seems oblivious. Each chapter told from the pov of either Quinn, Rachel, Santana or Brittany.
1. Chapter 1

So this is my first ever Glee fic- it's femslash so don't read if you don't like that. The rating will probably go up as the chapters go by. It basically takes into account everything up until the start of season 3 (ignoring the whole "Quinn going crazy and wanting Beth back" rubbish). Hope you like it, they'll be more on the way soon.

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><p>"You should tell her"<p>

"You should definitely tell her"

"I think it's gross you have feelings for a midget, but you should tell her"

"I think it's nice, it's like Romeo and Juliet only without the zombies"

"There are no zombies in Romeo and Juliet, Brit, you feel asleep in English and dreamed Mrs Thomas was a zombie, remember?"

"Oh yeah…I feel bad I hit her with those dusters…"

"You guys are not helping me at all. And Brittany if this ends up on your absurd internet talk show, I will not be happy"

"Cross my heart, I won't tell a soul. Especially not Lord Tubbington, he can't keep a secret from anyone"

Quinn Fabray wasn't the type to talk about feelings, at all, ever. She'd gotten through years of bullying, eating disorders, an unwanted pregnancy and being kicked out of home all without talking to anyone. But this was different somehow. Santana and Brittany were not only her best friends (although that didn't necessarily mean much with Santana's changing allegiances and Brittany's stupidity), they were also the only out lesbian couple at their school. So when Quinn came to grips with the fact she was in love with a girl, who else could she talk to?

"I don't see it Quinn, I mean she's a Broadway freak show. She colour codes the contents of her locker. And she's dating Man Boobs McGee. You could do better." Santana, Quinn noted, always had a _colourful_ way of speaking. Brittany stretched out and laid her head in Santana's lap.

"She has farm animals on all her tops" said Brittany lightly "I really like that. Although a sad lack of unicorns"

"How did this even begin?"

Quinn knew she'd never tell them that, especially not Santana. That would give her ammunition for their next big fight. Even she herself didn't really know. Rachel Berry hadn't always been Quinn's obsession, she was sure of that. The first year they'd been in the glee club together Rachel was just an annoying girl, who she tried (unsuccessfully) to not think about. It was hard though, she was so gosh-darn irritating. And of course Finn had been so in love with her, even when he eventually got back with Quinn. It was strange how things were clearer in retrospect. Quinn never really understood why she didn't get upset over Finn leaving her, or Sam or Puck or any of those boys leaving. She'd thought at the time it was because she was mature, but now she saw it was simply because she didn't give a fuck. She'd never really loved or cared about any of them, expect as status symbols. She'd cried more about being alone than about the fact she wasn't with Finn anymore.

In their second year of glee, Quinn began to notice Rachel more. Little things, the way she did her hair, how ridiculously ambition she was, how she was actually, terribly good at singing. How she smelt- a mix of perfume and fabric softener, and something altogether original. Perhaps she recognised something of herself in Rachel- an over confident front covering up for insecurities. Quinn didn't understand what it all meant for a long time. She thought it meant she had to hate Rachel even more, which was something she spent a lot of time and effort on.

It wasn't until their last performance at nationals in New York that she understood. Maybe because it came to her as a physical feeling, not as an intellectual realisation. She saw Finn kissing Rachel, on a huge stage, in the spotlight, and she felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She felt like she was on a lift that wouldn't stop, it just kept going down and she was about to throw up. How on earth had she let herself fall in love with Rachel-goddamn-Berry?

Then there was that summer. When she'd tried to run away from it all, to sleep with older men and forget about Rachel. She cut her hair off, she got a nose ring, listened to a lot of RiotGrrrl. The RiotGrrrl was good, but the rest of it wasn't her. And of all the people who could have come and reached out to her, it had to be Rachel. Santana and Brittany tried of course, for old-time's sake and perhaps some displaced guilt. But Rachel, out of all the glee-clubbers and cheerios, out of all the teachers and preachers Quinn had known in life, Rachel Berry was the only one to ask her to come back to who she really was.

She had to stop herself from kissing Rachel right there under the bleachers. She wanted to kiss her gently, on the check. Not a passionate kiss, just a kiss. The kind that tells someone you love them in a different kind of way. But she didn't of course, people were watching. Because Rachel was with Finn. Because girls like Rachel weren't gay, and girls like Quinn definitely weren't.

"Ok fine, you don't have to tell us" Santana's voice snapped her back to reality "but you do have to do something about it, ok?"

"Ha, like what?" Quinn's laugh was humourless. She couldn't see how her situation could possibly have a good ending.

"Tell her Quinn" it was Brittany who spoke this time "You love her because she's a good person right? And a good person won't hurt you, even if they don't love you back. She wouldn't tell anyone, or make fun of you, that's not what Rachel's like."

There was a part of Quinn that never ceased to be amazed by Brittany. The girl babbled nonsense about zombies and unicorns half the time, and then pulled out the wisdom card just when you needed it most.

"What do you think Santana?"

"I think you've got more chance with the midget if she wasn't dating Godzilla's effeminate, half-human son. I say the first order of business should be to break up Finn and Rachel, then be super-hot in front of her and turn her gayer-"

"I don't think that's how it works honey-" Brittany tried to explain

"then get her really, really drunk-"

"That's bad advice Santana-"

"And just go for it. If she rejects you, just say it was because you were drunk too, or say you don't even remember."

Brittany had sat up by this point, and was shaking her head against all of Santana's advice.

Quinn saw she had two options. One: be mature and adult, tell the girl how she felt and deal with a possibly heart breaking rejection. Two: creating a scenario that ensured even if she was rejected, no one would really know but her and Rachel, and even that could be blurred if they were drunk enough. She really only had one choice.

"Ok Santana, I'm going to need your help"


	2. Chapter 2

Rachel Berry had woken up feeling uneasy, and she was not sure why. Rachel did like to be unsure. She felt as if she was forgetting something, like a big maths test she'd forgotten to study for or new song she hadn't learned the dance steps to yet. She did her usual morning exercises, added another entry to her blog ("The Fabulous Blog of Rachel Berry", it had less viewers than Brittany's cheese blog, but Rachel felt assured that the quality was much higher) and brushed her teeth, but she still didn't feel any better. She finished colour coding her week's revision plan (it was only the start of the school year, but you can't start studying too early!), ate breakfast and kissed her dads goodbye. She still didn't know why she felt so uneasy. It was like she was dreading something, only she didn't know what.

When Finn Hudson pulled up in his car outside her house she ran over, kissed him on the cheek and started to talk about her new idea for their matching Halloween costumes (it was over a month away, but you really needed to put the time in for a great Halloween costume). Did he prefer Jackie and JFK, or Hermione and Ron? For Ron he'd definitely need a ginger wig. Finn smiled, unsure of who Jackie and JFK were, and clearly not enthused about the ginger wig idea.

"So what did you do last night Finn?" Rachel finally got around to asking. She always seemed to talk the most in their relationship. She did talk a lot as it was, she knew that, but with Finn it always seemed to be more than usual. It was probably because she was nervous and excited to be around him, or so she reasoned.

"Oh, you know, not much. Puck and Mike came over, and we played Combat Swat Team Four- that's an xbox game, remember the one I showed you with the-"

"-the combat swat teams, yes I recall-"

"And then they went home, and mum made sloppy joes for dinner, that was pretty good." Rachel smiled encouragingly as they drove. Finn's relationship with his mother really was something special. "And er…Blaine had brought some new shoes and Kurt thought they were ugly or something, so they argued about that…and um, I mean not much, you know. Just the usual."

"And have you thought anymore about colleges?" Rachel asked. She knew that Finn hadn't made any plans, and that he didn't want to discuss the subject, but she also felt she had a duty as his girlfriend to help him plan ahead.

"Um…no not really."

"Well, you know you really should. If you get a football scholarship, which I'm sure you will…" but Finn's eyes had glazed over and he wasn't really taking any of it in.

The feeling of dread had somewhat lifted by the time Rachel sat down in first period English. Santana and Brittany sat in front of her, meanwhile the odd numbers in the class meant she was stuck at a corner desk by herself. Quinn was there too, usually occupying the seat beside Jacob Benjamin Isreali (the seating plan had not been optional. Santana had only managed to sit beside Brittany by threatening to shred the entire library supply of Shakespeare if she wasn't allowed to. She said she would use the paper as scraps for her little brother's hamster cage and was not joking). That day, however, Jacob was not present.

"Uh Mrs Thomas, Jacob accidentally ate shrimp and had to go to hospital." Santana explained "He blew up like a friggin' balloon. It was actually kind of sick. Anyway he probably isn't going to be here for a while."

"Ok, well in that case Rachel, could you please come and sit closer to the front? We've got to get started on _Pride and Prejudice _this week."

Rachel rolled her eyes inwardly. How did Jacob manage to eat a shrimp without realising it if he was allergic? Idiot. Now she had to sit beside Quinn for however long it took him to deflate.

It wasn't that Rachel had an issue with Quinn as a person. She could appreciate Quinn's resilience, her hard work to reclaim her position as school Queen Bee, she even admired the way she looked. But Quinn hated Rachel and had, over the years, made that all too clear. And there was the Finn business. All and all, far too much history for them to ever really be friends.

She sat down beside her, with the intention of trying to focus purely on work. Quinn seemed to be doing the same, copying notes down from the whiteboard. Rachel tried to assess the situation as best she could without it being obvious. Quinn was writing with a pencil rather than a pen. Interesting. She was wearing a blue sundress, which contrasted well with her blonde hair. She was left handed. Unusual. Despite a superficial focus on the whiteboard, Rachel (who was a veteran of several stakeouts after all) noticed that Quinn was obviously uncomfortable sitting beside her. She shifted her body as far away from Rachel as she could, like she was trying to avoid touching her. Rachel rolled her eyes. _How immature_.

"So please discuss this with your partners and come up with a conclusion before the end of the class"

Rachel snapped back to reality, not having taken in any of the teacher's instructions. Behind her she heard Santana and Brittany debating whether or not Mike Chang's abs were real or not. That wasn't much help.

"So, what do you think?" Quinn asked, turning to her.

"Uh?"

"In what ways does the title of the book relate to the plot?" Quinn gestured to the question on the board.

"Oh. Well." It wasn't often that Rachel was stumped for words. If only she'd been paying attention, she might have a halfway decent answer. Quinn had a half smile on her face, as if she felt that Rachel's floundering was hilarious. "Um. I. Ah." Quinn seemed to rob Rachel of her ability to speak. There was something mocking in her smile. Her teeth were ridiculously white. "Um"

"Well, I was thinking" _thank God she finally put me out of my misery_ Rachel thought "that it relates to how Darcy and Elizabeth first see each other. Darcy is proud, and so he doesn't want to dance with Elizabeth, and she's prejudiced against him because of that. Pride and prejudice. It's their own initial character flaws that stop them from liking each other to begin with."

Something kicked into gear in Rachel's brain and she was able to speak again. "Although I haven't read the book yet, if the BBC mini-series was at all faithful, I'd say that I agree. Darcy is both too proud to dance with Jennifer Ehle- I mean Elizabeth- and he is prejudiced against her because her family are embarrassing and poorer than him."

"But surely Elizabeth is at fault too? Isn't she just as proud in her way? Darcy insults her pride by refusing to dance with her, or be polite to her family, and so she shuns him and gets with that idiot Wickham."

"But Elizabeth is only reacting to Darcy. He starts it all."

"But he ends it all too. He asked her to marry him in the end."

"The thing I don't get is why Colin Firth-I mean Mr Darcy- is so mean to start with. He has everything; looks, money, social standing. Why is he so mean to some woman at a dance who he'll never see again? It's never properly explained."

"Because he isn't a good person to begin with, but he changes. _She_ changes him."

"You know an awful lot about this book Quinn."

"I've read it a few times."

And then there is a moment, where Quinn looks at Rachel and Rachel looks at Quinn, and neither of them are speaking and she's not quite sure what's happening. And then the bell rings. It's a relief to go, she thought Quinn was going to slap her or something, she was staring so intensely.

On the way to lunch Rachel gets the strange uneasy feeling yet again. She smiles at Kurt, who's telling her something about some DVD extra-features of some musical he's bought, but she doesn't feel that much better as she watches him skip over to sit with Blaine. Finn comes over to eat with her, unaccompanied by his usual group of football players and glee-clubbers.

"The football boys all got detention to tee-peeing Coach Sue's car last weekend."

"Oh, hilarious."

"So how was your morning?" Finn asked her as he began to eat

"It was good. And you?"

"Me-oh yeah, it was good too. Mr Shue for Spanish, good stuff you know…"

"Great"

"So, um, anymore ideas for the Halloween costumes?"

"No, I haven't had a chance to think about it."

"Oh, ok. Well I mean, Ron's fine by me you know."

"Oh, ok."

Finn didn't seem to have anything else to say, and took a bite of his burger. It was an awkward sort of silence.

It was at this point Rachel realised that unless she was incessantly talking, or Finn was backed up by several of his loud guy-friends, the two of them could barely hold a conversation.

"Uh Finn, I just remembered, I left my book in English, I'd better go get it…" she knew she sounded odd, but she just had to get out of there. Finn looked startled but let her go without question. Rachel didn't return to the English room, instead she went into the nearest bathroom and burst into tears.

That was what the feeling had been, the feeling of dread, of uneasiness. It was the fact that she didn't really want to be with Finn, and subconsciously she'd probably known this for a while. She tried to think of the last time they'd been alone together. It was difficult because there was almost always someone, Kurt or Puck or Mike, there with them when they hung out. Someone to smooth over the conversation, to make it seem like they actually had stuff to talk about. Or else Rachel would just babble and Finn would nod in agreement. Rachel had never found it hard to crush on Finn, because he was always more of an idea than anything else. A handsome football player/leading man. But now they were really dating, without any interference from Quinn or Jessie St James or anyone else, now it felt different. She felt like running away.

The end of lunch bell rang and Rachel hurried to tidy her makeup, not wanting to be late to class. On her way to geography she noticed Santana hurriedly pushing an open bag of shrimp from her bag into the rubbish bin. That girl did strange things, but Rachel didn't want to anger her by saying anything (she'd been on the receiving end of Santana's anger far too many times) so she continued to class.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey thanks for the reviews, keep reading, it'll get better (eg more hot lesbian action) as it goes on, I promise. Needs to be built up first. Also I hope you like reading Santana's point of view as much as I liked writing it.

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><p>Santana never understood Quinn's fascination with Finn. Sure, she'd gone there herself, but that was only for strategic reasons, not because she particularly liked him. He was kind of cute, in a High School way, but the boy didn't have two brain cells to rub together. At least Puck knew how to break into a car. Santana knew people thought Brittany was dumb, even though she actually wasn't at all (she just didn't filter a lot of her thoughts before she spoke. And she had an active imagination. Ok, and maybe she was a little slow sometimes) but no one ever seemed to notice how stupid Finn was. Talking to him was like talking to a human shaped brick wall, unless you were interested in football plays or cars.<p>

Santana was thinking all this while Finn folded his history quiz into a paper plan and threw it across the class, bouncing off the back of Puck's head. _Exactly_, she thought_, that is what Finn Hudson is like_. She looked up at the clock. They still had twenty minutes before the class finished.

It hadn't of surprised Santana when Quinn told her she wasn't interested in Finn anymore, for all the fore-mentioned reasons. But pulling out the homo-card? Santana hadn't seen that one coming, which was a shock to her because her gaydar was usually on target. Quinn into girls? All those sleepovers that her and Brittany had snuggled their way through, joking and hugging and kissing, Quinn wasn't into any of that. She'd always sit far away from them and act all superior, like their affections were somehow immature (admittedly they'd been about 14, and very immature, but whatever). Maybe that was why though. Maybe she was afraid she'd like it too much.

At first, after agreeing to help Quinn get Rachel, Santana had some second thoughts.

"I mean, what if her and Rachel are like hotter lesbians than we are?" she asked Brittany that evening, lying sprawled across her girlfriend's bed "And we'd go from being Ellen and Portia to being…I don't even know of any other famous lesbian couples. We'd become nothing Britt!"

"Don't you think Lord Tubbington dresses like Ellen? They're both so dapper."

"What? I don't know. Aren't you listening to me?"

"Sure, I just don't think you need to worry. If they become Ellen and Portia we'd become like those lesbians from that band."

"Tegan and Sara?"

"No, they're not lesbians, they're cousins."

Sometimes Brittany was a myriad of misinformation.

"Anyway, the point is, how many gays can our school hold? We've already for Kurt and Blaine, Karofsky, Sam probably…I mean we can't _all_ be gay!"

"That's like…eight out of a thousand and something people" Brittany pointed out "I think we should support Quinn. Remember how hard it was for us being alone?"

Brittany looked at her with those "you know I'm right, stop being mean" eyes and Santana was inclined to agree.

"Ok I'll help her. Now take your top off, I want to get our cuddle on before your mum gets home."

Watching Finn and Puck send paper darts back and forth as the minutes ticked away in history class, Santana tried to think of someway to break up Finn and Rachel, and simultaneously bring Rachel and Quinn together. _God I'm a good person_ she thought, doodling on a piece of paper absent mindedly. _Plus the more lesbians at this school, the fewer looks Britt and I will get. And breaking up relationships is way more interesting than the American Revolution._

She needed to plan something that would give Rachel and Quinn lots of time together. That wouldn't involve Finn.

"Ok class, hand your papers to the front" they all began to file slowly out of the classroom.

"Santana, could you please stay behind and pick up this mess?" Mr Fitch the history teacher asked, gesturing to Finn's mess of strewn paper planes.

"What, why me? I didn't make this mess, call back Dumb and Dumber to do it!"

"Just do it Santana." Mr Fitch said unmoved.

"Why, because I'm a woman and I'm Latina I'm supposed to clean up after you white men? No me gusta, that's sexist and racist and you're probably a homophobe too-" she threw the last one in for good measure, not really having any evidence to back up the claim.

"Please Santana, I'm not interested, if it's not cleared up by the end of lunch you're on detention. No answering back!"

Mr Fitch, who clearly had his mind on his sandwiches, left the class before Santana could argue back.

"Douche bag…" she muttered to herself as she picked up the papers. One of the brightly coloured ones caught Santana's eye and she unfolded it to see what it said.

"_History Ball:_

_The history department is putting on its annual historical ball. Come dressed as your favourite historical character or time period. Friday 25__th__, 7pm onwards. Entertainment to be announced."_

Things began to tick over in Santana's mind. Entertainment to be announced? That was basically another way of saying that Figgins couldn't find anyone cheap enough to play the gig for free. But Mr Shue would leap at the chance for the Glee club to play at a real gig, with a (probably small) audience. Friday nights were football nights, which would mean that Finn wouldn't be able to attend. It was one thing for cheerleaders to miss a game, but the star quarter back? No way.

Santana saw what she had to do and immediately pulled her phone out to call Quinn.

"Where are you?"

"The lunch room, where are you?"

"I'm walking over now. I've got a plan."

"A plan for lunch? That's great Santana, but I think you're over-thinking things to be honest…"

"No idiot, a plan re-operation Berry Cheesecake" (Santana had made this name up in her head, but apparently Quinn understood what she meant, because she didn't ask her to clarify)

"Oh…what?"

"How do you feel about costumes?" Santana asked walking past the lockers, towards the cafeteria.

"Like role play? I don't think she'd be into that, and to be honest I'm not entirely comfortable-"

"No, like a costume party that the Glee-club-minus-Finn are going to sing at. That you are going to do a romantic duet with Rachel with at, and then she'll look into your eyes-"

"Santana, I'm right here, you can hang up."

Santana had arrived in the cafeteria and sat down beside Quinn without bothering to hang up her phone. She turned to Quinn. "Ok, so what do you think? We convince Mr Shue to let the Glee club perform at this historical costume party geek-fest, you turn up in some hot period costume and Rachel realises she's super homo for you. Finn meanwhile will be playing football, blissfully unaware of all of this."

"But what if she won't do a duet with me? I mean, you can't exactly force her to."

"No, but we can pull names out of a hat, which is like super easy to rig."

"Really?"

"Me and Britt worked it out ages ago. Honestly, you pretend like you're smart Fabray, but I'm seriously starting to doubt it."

Quinn smiled, genuinely amused, and Santana thought that it would be difficult for _anyone_ not to be attracted to her. She was like a Barbie doll. Although often the smile wasn't that genuine, Santana reflected, it was merely masking some other emotion. When it was real though, it was like sunshine breaking through on a cloudy day. _God did I just actually think that?_ Santana thought to herself. _That's repulsive._

"Well, I try. Have you seen Rachel today?"

"She was off sick yesterday and she wasn't in Spanish this morning. Maybe she caught whatever Jew-fro has…"

"You put shrimp into his potato salad on Monday and he had an allergic reaction, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Sometimes it's hard to keep up." Santana conceded "Anyway, I'm going to find Britt before lunch finishes. She just text me that she found a portal to the 4th dimension behind the gym."

"That Janitor's cupboard?"

"Probably"

Santana left to go find Brittany before she did herself any real damage. _Well, that's my good deed for the day_, she thought to herself, _Britt had better be proud_.


	4. Chapter 4

Realised after I posted the last chapter I'd miss-spelt Mr Schuester's name! My bad! Thanks for all the lovely positive reviews. I'm know the chapters are a bit short, but I'm updating frequently so hopefully it evens out for you :) I figured I should put some music into this fic (being Glee after all). Credit to Kimya Dawson, Feist and Neutral Milk Hotel. _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_ is 100% real and very funny.

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><p>Brittany S. Pierce hummed along to her iPod as she rollerbladed to school. Rollerblading had to be the best way to travel, she considered. It was faster than walking (and she fell over less frequently), it was more fun than biking, and it was better for the environment than driving a car.<p>

"I do it all for you" she whispered to a willow tree as she bladed past "And plus those sewer creatures can't catch me when I blade because I'm way too fast. I guess they were friendly and all, but I feel weird around them ever since I turned down that offer to be their Queen. I just don't believe in monarchies unless they're a mere symbolic formality."

She said all of this out loud, but there wasn't anyone around to hear.

"_Joey never met a bike that he didn't wanna ride__  
><em>_And I never met a Toby that I didn't like__  
><em>_Scotty liked all of the books that I recommended__  
><em>_Even if he didn't I wouldn't be offended"_

"wouldn't be offended…" Brittany finished singing the last few words as she pulled up outside McKinley High, sitting down on the front steps to take her rollerblades off.

"Britt! Britt!" Brittany looked around to see that Santana was calling to her

"Hey San San!"

"I told you not to wear your headphones when you skate Britt, you can't hear anything, what if you got run over because you didn't hear a car coming?"

"But I'd see it. Or I'd feel the vibrations. And besides, that gypsy from the fair told us that I'd die aged 28 due to a freak tractor accident, remember?"

"That gypsy was Finn's mum dressed up. She was trying to raise money for the football team's new uniforms."

"I did find it suspicious that she didn't understand Roma."

"Since when did you speak Roma?"

"I learned from Dora the Explorer."

"Honey, that's…never mind, let's go to class."

The morning passed Brittany by in a blur. Constitutions and integrating fractions, none of it really meant much to her. Brittany cared about people, and making sure that the people she loved knew how great they were. Academic things often seemed irrelevant. Even English, which was usually one of her better subjects hadn't been that fun. She'd been put in a group with Rachel and Quinn, and made to discuss _Pride and Prejudice. _Santana had been forced into a group with two hockey players and a kid who constantly smelled like ketchup, so she didn't even have her girlfriend to distract her.

"Have you read the book Brittany?" Rachel asked her, trying somewhat condescendingly to make small talk.

"No but I read the modern adaptation with additional zombies, _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_. I think they're quite similar."

"Uh-"

"What was the question again?"

"'Discuss the relationship between Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins, and how this relationship acts as a foil to Elizabeth and Darcy's relationship.'"

"So Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth's somewhat less interesting, less pretty, older friend, who chooses to marry the disgusting Mr Collins rather than become an old maid." Rachel explained.

"That's so sad." Brittany said.

"What? That she chooses to be with someone safe rather than to be alone?" Rachel asked.

"That she chooses to be with someone she doesn't love, purely for social standing." Quinn pointed out. She and Rachel were sitting across from each other, while Brittany sat to the side, slowly carving a picture of a cat onto her desk.

"But it's more than just social standing! I mean, without a man she had no way to make money. She'd be a burden on everyone else in her family. She'd be slushied every day without him bringing up her popularity!"

"What?"

"I mean, not the last one. But the others are true. I sympathise with her choice. Would any of us ever really choose differently?"

"I would" said Quinn. "Being with someone you don't love is worse than being alone. Especially if that someone is Mr Collins. He's ridiculous and self-important, and he doesn't even have a sense of humour. Can you imagine being stuck with him forever?"

Brittany noticed that Rachel seemed kind of confused. She was moving her mouth but no words were coming out, which was weird because normally lots of words came out. Brittany added whiskers and a collar to her cat.

"Well…I mean…he means well doesn't he? He's a nice, good person?"

"But what would they even have to talk about? Can you imagine their conversations?"

Rachel looked somewhat sick.

"Aspirin?" Brittany offered, pulling a packet from her bag.

"Those are mentos Brittany, and no thank you."

"Suit yourself" Brittany popped about five of the mints into her mouth and once.

"I think you're right Quinn. She needs to break up with Mr Collins."

"Uh, they got married; I don't think 18th century divorce law was terribly advanced Rachel."

At this point in the conversation Brittany got bored and put her headphones on.

"_1,2,3,4 tell me that you love me more_

_Sleepless long nights_

_That is what my youth was for"_

Santana also looked bored over in her group. She was filing her nails, head lolling to the side. Her hair was so nice and dark and shiny. _What a babe_ Brittany thought, _I'm like the luckiest girl in Ohio. Possibly on the entire continent._ Quinn and Rachel were still talking. Brittany couldn't hear them over her music, but they seemed to be having a pretty intense discussion. Rachel was leaning in over the table, gesturing. Quinn wasn't breaking eye contact.

"...although I can see where you're coming from"

Brittany had taken her headphones off before Mrs Thomas saw her and confiscated them.

"We should have a study date Rachel. You've clearly got a lot of interesting ideas about the book."

Brittany was about to ask why she wasn't invited to this study date (she was part of the group after all), but then she realised that "study group" was Quinn's way of trying to get Rachel on her own. And that had to be like the oldest trick in the book. With all the "studying" her and Santana had done over the years they should both have their PhDs. This thought caused Brittany to collapse in laughter.

"What is it Brittany?"

"I was just thinking about…"she tried to think up something hilarious "um about…bird sex. I mean how funny does it look?"

Quinn and Rachel gave her matching looks of concern.

"So how about it?"

"Ok, name the day."

Quinn proceeded to organise the time and place of their study date. It was at her house, in the evening. _Pffft study my ass_, Brittany though. She wondered whether earnest, gullible Rachel had any clue what Quinn had planned.

The rest of the day wasn't any fun either, but Santana went to Brittany's after school, jogging to keep up with her as she bladed along.

"…so all I have to do is convince Mr Schue to let the Glee club perform, which I'll do tomorrow at Glee practice, and it's bound to work."

"You're so good at planning things Santana. You're even better than JLo in _The Wedding Planner_." They'd reached Brittany's house and she fumbled with the key to let them in. "Hey I want to show you the new song I learned how to play on guitar."

"It's not more of that Joanna Newsom chick is it Britt, because she sounds like a cat that's learned to sing."

"Duh, that's like half the point. Wait here, I'll go get my guitar." She left Santana in her living room and ran upstairs to her bedroom to retrieve her guitar, bounding back as quickly as she could. "Ok, you ready? I learned this because the hot girl off _Parks and Recreation_ said it's her favourite band, and also this song reminds me of you."

Santana didn't usually smile out of happiness. Usually her smiles were vindictive, or "I told you so" smiles. Brittany was one of the few people lucky enough to illicit the real ones. Brittany smiled back, even wider.

"_What a beautiful face _

_I have found in this place_

_That is circling all round the sun_"

Brittany missed a chord on her guitar, but kept going anyway. She didn't sound much like the guy who sang it in the band, but it didn't really matter. She was never going to sound like anyone except herself.

"_What a beautiful dream_

_That could flash on the screen_

_In a blink of an eye and be gone from me_

_Soft and sweet_

_Let me hold it close and keep it here with me"_

She didn't really know why this song reminded her of Santana. Probably because every song ever reminded her of Santana in some way. She kept strumming, Santana kept smiling.

"_And one day we will die_

_And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea_

_But for now we are young_

_Let us lay in the sun _

_And count every beautiful thing we can see_

_Love to be _

_In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me"_

She slowly stopped playing "That's all I know so far."

Santana clapped enthusiastically. "That was great Brit! I loved it."

Brittany put her guitar down and joined Santana on the couch.

"Do you think it'll get me all the ladies?" she asked grinning. Santana laughed, and flipped her legs over Brittany's.

"Maybe." She started to trail kisses down Brittany's neck, unzipping her Cheerio's uniform at the same time "I think I know of one it'll get you."

_I'm the luckiest girl in the whole solar system_ Brittany thought to herself.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews guys, it's amazing to know people are actually reading this (and slightly surprising, in the best possible way). I'd love to get it to a wider audience, so feel free to recommend it to any Faberry loving friends. Songs used this time around: Regina Spektor and Gillian Welch. I will admit am a bit of a hipster weirdo when it comes to music, but I'm trying hard to include some well-known songs too, so hopefully there's something for everyone. Song requests welcome- maybe we'll have some favourite songs in common?

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><p>When Santana told Quinn about her idea for the Glee club to perform at the Renaissance fair or historical ball (or whatever it was), Quinn was initially a little hesitant.<p>

"But that's basically just giving Finn yet another solo to perform with Rachel, why would I want to do that?"

"That's the brilliant bit. It's on at the same time as the football, so Captain McLardass won't be there."

"But if there's a football match on we'll have to cheer."

"It's Coach Sue's bi-yearly skin peel at the Nixon health clinic that weekend. She said that football games are about as important as practices to us, so we're not even going to be cheering that game. Mostly I think she's just trying to get at Beiste, but who cares, it means we'll be there and the football boys won't be."

Quinn bit her lip, looking for some kind of flaw.

"Trust me Quinn, it's perfect. Mr Schue already agreed when I asked him after Glee the other day. He said he'd talk to us about it today."

It had been getting harder and harder for Quinn to keep her crush on Rachel a secret. She'd catch herself staring at her across the classroom, taking in absolutely nothing that her teachers were telling her. It was a miracle no one had called her out on it yet. Surely someone had to notice. English was the worst. She tried to take in as much of Rachel as she could without it being obvious. She'd subtly look at her handwriting, so neat and slanty, as her had moved across the page. Her skin was perfect and smooth and tanned, such a contrast to Quinn's own pale tones. She smelled like a mixture of flowery perfume and coconut shampoo. Quinn couldn't go down the shampoo aisle at the supermarket now without stopping to smell that coconut shampoo. It was a little creepy, she had to admit.

They'd even started having conversations. Previously Rachael and Quinn had yelled at one another, argued about Finn and had altercations in bathrooms. But in English class, forced to work together, they'd started to have conversations. Deep, long, emotional conversations. All about the book of course, but it was definitely something. Rachel would look at her so intensely, sometimes she felt that her feelings had to be reciprocated. They couldn't be, though, because if they were why was she still dating Finn? When Jacob Ben Israeli returned to class he was relegated Rachel's old seat in the corner, and Rachel did not offer to swap back.

"Ok guys, I've got some great news" Mr Schue came into the choir room for lunch time Glee practice in his usual state of enthusiasm "We've got a performance lined up for the 25th, playing the history department's ball. Traditionally the attendances are small, but this is great training for sectionals so I've offered us as the entertainment. Thanks again for letting me know about it Santana."

Santana waved the thanks away.

"But Mr Schue, that's the first football game of the season, none of us guys are going to be able to go." Finn said gesturing to himself, Puck and Mike.

"Really? Damn, I thought football didn't start 'til the week after. Look guys, I understand you've made a commitment to football, and this gig isn't competitive. I'll completely understand if you choose to go to the game instead of performing."

"I think we'd better play guys. No offence Mr Schue, but Coach Beiste is a lot more intimidating than you." Puck said honestly.

"Ok, those of you who can attend, any ideas for songs? Do you want group numbers, solos, duets?"

"Duets!" said Brittany and Santana in unison. Blaine and Kurt seemed happy with this idea too, while Mercedes looked slightly less enthusiastic, obviously wanting a solo to herself.

"Ok, well you know how we do it. Put your names into the hat and we'll see who performs with who."

True to her word Santana (who passed the hat around) managed to rig it so that Rachel pulled out Quinn's name.

"Looks like we're together."

"That's great, we can discuss song choices this afternoon."

"Wait, you two are hanging out together? Like, by choice?" Finn sounded slightly confused.

"I told you Finn, Quinn and I and having a study date tonight to discuss-"

"Don't you think that's a little weird Rachel? I mean, she's my ex, couldn't you have asked me first?"

"Why do I have to ask you who I can talk to Finn?" Rachel sounded annoyed. Their fight was quickly escalating, making the other Glee clubbers and Mr Schue look around awkwardly.

"Of course not…it's just I wouldn't go become best friends with Jessie St James without asking you first."

"But you don't even know Jessie, why would you hang out with him? You're friends with Puck despite him and I having history. Quinn's in my classes, I'm allowed to talk to her if I want to."

Finn seemed to realise he wasn't going to win the argument, so he picked up his bag and left the room in a huff.

"I seriously believe that boy suffers phantom PMS." Santana commented as they left for class.

"PMS is like the Canadian CIA right?" Brittany asked.

"No hun, let's go to class."

Later that afternoon Rachel met Quinn outside the school gate to walk home to Quinn's together.

"Look Rachel, if us being around each other is going to be a problem for Finn, I totally understand if you want to cancel."

Rachel looked both surprised and rather defiant. Quinn thought it was an extremely cute look on her.

"No! Absolutely not. Finn and I…things haven't been that great lately. It's not about you, that was just an excuse."

Quinn knew it was wrong to feel joy about someone else's relationship troubles, but she felt it all the same. She tried her best to keep a straight face as they walked.

"Really? What's wrong? I mean-I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me, I know it's kind of awkward."

"No, I'd actually like to talk to someone. It's hard you know, I don't really have many girl friends, and Kurt's Finn's stepbrother, so it's difficult to tell him. It's just, lately I feel we don't have very much in common. I've stopped making all the conversation and suddenly it's like we've got nothing to say. Why are you smiling?"

"It's just, that's what it was like for me too with Finn. Sometimes I mean, not all the time. It's hard to find common ground to talk about things. He's not very…academic."

Rachel didn't say anything else, so Quinn didn't press her.

"It's this one" Quinn said leading the way up to her house.

"Wow Quinn, your house is amazing." Quinn felt the familiar rush of embarrassment. Her hose was a huge, fake-mansion, the kind complete with a pool and columns. It was her father's brain child. Had to show off the wealth after all, no matter how bad-taste it was.

"One of the few things my mother got out of the divorce. Honestly, I don't really like it. Our old house, when I was a kid, was much nicer. It was just a bungalow, but it had a huge yard to play in."

Quinn led Rachel upstairs to her bedroom, feeling slightly nervous. She'd never brought anyone from school into her home before, excepting Santana, Brittany and Finn. Quinn took care to make her room look nice, fairy lights, a few posters, nothing to cluttered.

"Your room is really lovely Quinn. Look at those fairy lights, can we turn them on? It's like something off tumblr!"

"What's tumblr?"

"It's, uh, never mind. Oh, I didn't know you liked Joni Mitchell." Rachel said inspecting a poster on the wall.

"I do. Feel free to put some music on." Quinn gestured to her iPod, which was plugged into her stereo.

"Oh, you choose something."

Quinn felt immense pressure. What was something that would impress Rachel Berry, but still be relatively romantic? No RiotGrrrl, that was for sure. Something popular but not over played. She settled for Regina Spektor.

_It's like forgetting the words to your favourite song__  
><em>_You can't believe it__  
><em>_You were always singing along__  
><em>_It was so easy and the words so sweet__  
><em>_You can't remember__  
><em>_You try to feel the beat_

"So Quinn I'm not going to lie. I can't possibly study when we have a duet song to pick. It's just priorities."

Quinn laughed a little bit at Rachel's earnestness.

"Um, ok did you have anything in mind?"

"I'm not sure. Normally, I would have at least three top song choices and several back-ups in different keys, but this thing with Finn is messing me up."

"I could sing you some things, to get you started thinking." Quinn wasn't sure why she blurted this out. _Idiot_ she thought to herself, _you just offered to sing in front of a girl who is A) a much better singer than you and B) your crush. Well done_.

"Oh Quinn, that would be perfect, and a very good way to stop myself thinking about Finn. I've always enjoyed your voice."

There wasn't any way out.

"Um, ok, well I learned this gospel song when I was living with Mercedes, it's a bit different to what we normally sing in Glee club."

"I'd love to hear it."

Quinn paused the iPod, and suddenly became aware of how silent the room was. She didn't have a guitar or backing music of any kind. It was just her and her voice, and Rachel Berry sitting on her bed staring expectantly.

"Wait a second!" Rachel suddenly said, jumping up and pulling the curtains, then switching on the fairy lights. The room filled with soft yellow light "There, now the atmosphere is set."

Quinn's voice struck out again the silence like a knife through butter.

_When I cross over__  
><em>_I will shout and sing__  
><em>_I will know my savior__  
><em>_By the mark where the nails have been_

Her voice waivered in a few places, but she keep going. Her voice was soft and clear, not really country enough to pull of the song as it had originally been sung, but it still sounded very soulful.

_By the mark where the nails have been__  
><em>_By the sign upon his precious skin__  
><em>_I will know my savior when I come to him__  
><em>_By the mark where the nails have been_

_A man of riches__  
><em>_May claim a crown of jewels__  
><em>_But the king of heaven__  
><em>_Can be told from the prince of fools_

_On Calvary Mountain__  
><em>_Where they made him suffer so__  
><em>_All my sin was paid for__  
><em>_A long, long time ago_

When she finished, Rachel didn't clap at all. She sat looking at Quinn as if she was seeing her for the first time.

"What do you think?" Quinn asked, feeling compelled to break the silence.

"I-Quinn, that was beautiful. You really believe in that don't you?"

"I have to. The things that have happened to me in life, they can't just be random. What would be the point. There has to be…something."

Rachel didn't respond and Quinn felt oddly embarrassed. Maybe Rachel thought that her views on spiritualty were stupid? Rachel looked beautiful under the yellow fairy lights, it brought out her eyes.

"Um, I have to go" Rachel said suddenly, as if pulled from a trance. She started to hurriedly get her things together.

"But we haven't even studied yet." Quinn said confused.

"I know, I just remembered- I have this meeting-with my, with my, dentist"

"You have a meeting with your dentist?"

"An appointment. Just remembered, got to go."

Rachel almost sprinted downstairs and out the door, leaving Quinn feeling confused and somewhat hurt.

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><p>Feedbackreviews welcome.


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